Coach Stoops on Bowl Preparations

The Sooners meet the Pac 10's Cardinal on December 31 in El Paso, Texas. The game kicks at 1 p.m. CT and will be televised nationally by CBS.

SoonerSports.com has daily bowl updates leading up to the game and will provide exclusive coverage from team headquarters in El Paso once the Sooners arrive in Texas.

Head Coach Bob Stoops

Opening comments:
"Looking forward to this bowl game. It’s really a big challenge. You look at Stanford, and Jim Harbaugh and his staff, they have done an amazing job. You are looking at the four losses, they are 8-4, and they are all tight games.

"Wake Forest, away from home, they have a huge run at the end of the game if it isn’t called back, they are going to win that game. All of the games are tight and then you look towards the end of the season when they beat the Pac-10 champ Oregon. They beat USC, 55-21, at USC.

"They play very physical offensively and do a great job running the football and creating seams, creating formations, making you think and they give you so much misdirection and play action pass off of it. They just do an outstanding job in how they execute.

"Defensively, they are very disciplined, very sound in how they play. The kickoff return may be the best kickoff return I have seen in a great number of years. They really have done a great job all season which puts them in great field position so much of the time.

"They really do an excellent job in coaching their players who are very disciplined in how they play. It is a big challenge, but one we will be excited about and the guys are doing a nice job here in the last several days practicing and preparing for it.”

On Trent Williams playing center:
“I don’t know if it’s fair to say it’s easy. He has worked there through the year just for depth purposes. He is an excellent football player. I know it will give us a major presence wherever he is at, so hopefully it will work.”

On Stanford player Chase Beeler:
“He’s an excellent young man. He is a great student-athlete in that he does a great job with his academic work. He worked hard here, always had a good attitude coming to practice, technically was sound in how he played, he was still young for us, so he hadn’t fully matured yet but knew he would have a strong future.”

On Landry making strides during bowl practices:
“He has done a nice job. He has come on. I feel he has done that through the year. In the end, the extra work with him and the receivers together have made some strides.”

On defending Stanford running back Toby Gerhart:
“It isn’t just defending Toby Gerhart, its defending the whole package. They do such a great job of moving their formations and their tight ends around, and trying to create seams in space. He has great patience and vision to wait for those seams, and then he has the power and quickness when he does see it to gain yards and break tackles. They do an excellent job. He, in particular, also does a great job running the ball with his size and strength, protecting his legs and gaining yards when they aren’t there.”

On Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray’s final game together:
“It has been really neat to see just the two of them palling around together. Not just the friendship they have, but how they work together, they push each other. They are genuinely excited to see the other do well. I think it’s fair that between the two of them, they have really complemented each other really well. You look a year ago and they are 2,000 yard rushers. That doesn’t happen a lot and its pretty special.”

On Gerald McCoy:
“I’m just excited for Gerald (McCoy). He has been an amazing individual and young man to have around here the past four years. His character, he lifts everybody up he’s around and he has been an amazing leader.

"Not many guys through here as a sophomore and junior are captains. I can go on and on for an hour not even talking about his ability on the field. You put him on the field and he has the strength and the quickness to be a special player. He is so well conditioned to play the whole game. He’ll come out on Monday and run his sprints, then jump in with the lineman and run theirs.

"The guy is just a great athlete, but more than that he is an amazing person. We are excited for him and I’m excited because he’s graduating. He has already walked across the stage and that’s pretty special to do in three and a half years, so we are excited for him. He has left a great legacy here.”

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